Walkers are used by people with walking difficulties to support them while walking. These devices are normally constructed as four-legged, open-bottomed, self-standing structures that a person can approach and stand within for at least partial support while holding on during the taking of walking steps. Examples of typical walker devices of this kind are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,708,473 to Gable and U.S. Pat. No. 3,354,893 to Schmerl. The persons using the device picks it up, places it on the ground a distance of several steps in front of him/her, and then walks to it while holding on for support, whereupon the process is repeated. The walkers need to be manipulable by a user, and thus need to be relatively light, and, consequently, tend not to be motorized. Manual and motorized wheelchairs are generally designed for the more extremely disabled user thus are not a comparative solution for the specific societal needs.
Alluding to the above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,947 to Rodenborn teaches a motorized walker including a base upon which a person can stand, with wheels on the base for rollably supporting the base. A walker frame within which a person can stand is detachably mounted on the base (a safety risk), and includes control switches for separately and independently actuating the electric motors such that the person can stand on the motorized walker and maneuver it in any desired direction. The device taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,947 to Rodenbom provides a moving platform facilitator versus a walking aid. Here, patient's legs do not touch the ground and when the frame is removed it is simply a standard walker. This prior art reference provides more akin to a stand-up wheelchair rather than a walker and the support frame (walker frame) is no different in function to that of the hand bars of a wheelchair when installed on the platform. The device taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,947 to Rodenbom is heavy, not easily foldable and in general quite user unfriendly.
Another prior art reference, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,578 to Perkins. It teaches a walker device for aiding invalids and other persons having walking difficulties has an upstanding open-bottomed framework toward and within which a person can take steps while holding on and being supported by the framework. The framework is provided with wheels and is motorized, with controls conveniently located for activation by the person using the device. The device taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,578 to Perkins is a different challenge. The practicality of two drill motors with a pull cord to activate the drills is not realistically feasible. However, two motors, control switch and power source of electric drills strap mounted with a rubber pressure strap to hold the worm gear indirectly to the wheel gear cannot work for an extended period of time as designed.
Still another prior art reference, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,562 to Reed, teaches a walking aid has a supporting framework mounted on two independently driven wheels, driven by respective electric motors. The motors are operable by respective switches provided on the framework, such that each wheel can be independently rotatably driven in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. The device taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,562 to Reed is also an interesting challenge. Conceptually, it is a battery driven direct motor to wheel arrangement but also inhibits the forward stepping movement of the user. It does not have swivel rear wheels.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,578 Perkins teaches individual controls and the U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,562 to Reed teaches explicitly use of reversing the motors to execute turns. On the other hand, neither the U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,578 Perkins or the U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,562 to Reed talk about variable speed operation and fail to tech running both motors concurrently in the same direction and at different speeds, which would facilitate gentle turns and “crabbing” the walker alongside of a hill.
To the extent effective, the aforementioned prior art devices taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,578 to Perkins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,947 to Rodenbom, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,562 to Reed are complicated to use, bulky, and expensive to manufacture and service. Thus, an opportunity exists for unique and new motorized walker.
This invention, together with the additional features and advantages thereof, which is only summarized in the foregoing passages, will become more apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the description of the preferred embodiments, which follows in the specification taken together with the drawings.